"Mm, I broke through."
Those four casually spoken words struck Zhao Lieyang's heart like a heavy hammer.
He opened his mouth, wanting to ask, "How did you break through?" and "Why so fast?"
But when he saw Fang Chen's calm, placid gaze, as though he had merely done something insignificant, every word clogged in his throat.
An indescribably complicated mix of emotions intertwined in his heart.
Zhao Lieyang had now completely accepted this fact.
In the end, he said nothing. He merely gave Fang Chen a complicated look and silently stepped aside.
Fang Chen did not linger. He went straight down the stairs and left the Martial Arts Pavilion.
Zhao Lieyang stood there, lost and dispirited, for quite some time before slowly making his way down the stairs.
He had barely walked out of the Martial Arts Pavilion when he heard an enthusiastic voice:
"Junior Brother Zhao! I finally found you!"
Zhang Yuan hurried over from the side, his face wearing its usual warm smile. He was also holding an exquisite little wooden box.
"I have a box of pills here. They're highly effective for tempering the muscles and bones and strengthening the internal organs. They're just right for you right now, Junior Brother Zhao... Huh?"
Zhang Yuan had only gotten halfway through his sentence when he noticed that something was wrong with Zhao Lieyang's complexion.
That dazed, deeply shaken appearance was worlds apart from his usual confidence.
Zhang Yuan could not help asking with concern, "Junior Brother Zhao, what's wrong? Why do you look so awful? Did you run into some difficulty in your cultivation?"
Zhao Lieyang looked at the wooden box in Zhang Yuan's hand, then heard his concerned question, and his heart became even more tangled.
He instinctively wanted to hide Fang Chen's breakthrough, feeling that revealing